My daughter is attempting to access the Mathletics website (www.mathletics.com.au) for school. However, whenever we visit the website a message appears saying “Javascript is not enabled”. This same problem occurs in both Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox. I have enabled Active Scripting in Internet Explorer (through the “Tools” menu > “Internet Options” > “Security” tab and the “Internet” zone) and also enabled Javascript in Firefox (through the “Tools” menu > “Options” > “Content” tab). I have also tried disabling the computer’s internet filter (Integard) and antivirus software (AVG) but the problem still continues.

As the problem exists in both Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox we can assume that the problem is not related to the web browsers themselves. By default, Internet Explorer and Firefox have Javascript enabled, since this technology is used substantially on many websites. As such, there should be no need to manually enable Javascript in the web browser. Given that Javascript is already enabled there must be something else on your computer which is blocking Javascript from running. In your question I see that you have already tried disabling Integard and AVG, but this did not resolve the problem. From the research I have conducted I don’t think that Integard or AVG do block Javascript, and since you have already tried disabling these and it did not resolve the problem, this confirms that neither of these applications would be causing the problem.

The next most likely suspect is some third-party security software running on your computer. The most likely candidate would be firewall software, as this could be inspecting and intercepting the data being received by your web browser. It may be deeming that the Javascript is considered unsafe (for whatever reason) and not passing this data onto your browser. Alternatively, it could also be simply disabling Javascript support on your computer entirely, again because it may consider that Javascript is a security risk and needs to be disabled. Therefore, if you have any firewall or internet security software installed on your computer this should be temporarily disabled to check whether the problem continues. Be aware, simply disabling the security software may not be enough. Often other components of the security software remain running, even though you think it has been disabled, so you may also wish to try completely uninstalling the security software. I realise that this would be a major inconvenience, but perhaps will be the only way to know for sure whether the security software is causing the problem.

The next possibility is that some spyware, adware or malware has been installed on your computer and is blocking the ability of your computer to access websites which require Javascript. This could be for any number of reasons, the most significant being that such malware can generally mess around with your computer and change all sorts of settings. Therefore, you should complete a full scan of your computer. To start, update AVG with the latest virus definition files and do a complete scan of your computer for any viruses. Once this has completed and removed any detected threats, download and install Ad-Aware Free (www.lavasoft.de), Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org), and Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/downloads). Install and then run each of these three scanners to detect any spyware, adware or malware installed on the computer. If any such nasties are found, make sure these are removed. Then, run another scan to ensure they have actually been removed.

Should the spyware, adware and malware scan come up clean, then the next possibility is that something within Windows has become corrupt. I have left this possible explanation to be one of the last aspects we explore, since the problem affects both Internet Explorer and Firefox. If the problem only affected Internet Explorer then there is a strong possibility that the cause would be related to something amiss with Windows, since Internet Explorer and Windows are tightly integrated products. However, since the problem also affects Firefox the chance of the issue being Windows related is slimmer. That said, we should try all possibilities, especially at this stage where we have almost run out of other ideas. As a first step, try running the Windows System File Checker. This will scan for any missing or corrupt Windows system files, and replace these with known good copies. Go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type “sfc /scannow” (without the quotes, and note the space between the “sfc” and “/scannow” portions of the command) and click OK. The System File Checker will commence operations. Make sure you have your original Windows CD handy, as you may be prompted for this CD during the process (if the SFC needs to extract new copies of files). Once the SFC has completed operations it will exit silently with no user feedback. Restart the computer, and check whether the problem persists.

Should running the System File Checker not resolve the problem, you could try conducting an in-place upgrade of Windows XP. An in-place upgrade essentially repairs an installation of Windows XP by completing a reinstallation. However, instead of wiping the hard drive the installer simply copies new versions of Windows system files over the existing versions. In theory, this should leave all your data intact on the drive, as the process only updates and replaces Window system files. That said, this is a risky process and things have been known to go horribly wrong with in-place upgrades. As such, you should backup all your important data which you need to keep before attempting this procedure, just in case things don’t go to plan and you need to completely format your hard drive and reinstall Windows from scratch.

Once you have a backup of all the data you need to keep, visit the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article and print the article (as you will need this for future reference): support.microsoft.com/kb/315341 . In particular, I would like to draw your attention to Method 2 which is the instructions you need to follow. As the instructions specify, insert your Windows XP CD into the drive and restart your computer. The computer should boot from the CD (if not, you may need to press a certain key on boot up to produce a startup menu, allowing you to select the CD drive as the boot device). When the message appears saying “Press any key to boot from CD” press a key to boot from the CD. Once the Windows setup screen appears, press ENTER to commence the Windows setup (as tempting as it seems, do NOT press R to open the Recovery Console – this is something completely different which you don’t want to do). Agree to the licence agreement, and select your current installation of Windows XP in the list of operating systems. Now, press R to repair that installation. Follow the steps to complete the in-place upgrade (repair) of Windows XP. Once the setup has completed, the computer should look the same as previous and also still have all your data. However, hopefully, the Javascript problem has been fixed.